Admiral Mike Mullen [ Images ], chairman of the United States joint chiefs of staff, just days before his retirement, has made yet another scathing indictment of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence's perfidy. The spy agency maintains proxies like the Haqqani network for its own strategic depth in Afghanistan, he said.

But at the same time, Mullen, in an interaction that followed his farewell address at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, acknowledged that he could understand Pakistan's insecurities vis-a-vis India [ Images ] and said he still believes that resolving the Kashmir [ Images ] imbroglio is the path to peace in the region.

When asked about Pakistan's perennial whining that the US has not provided the Pakistani military with attack helicopters that Islamabad [ Images ] has been clamouring for to take the fight to the terrorist networks, Mullen said he did not believe "there's a direct link between improving their helicopter fleet and the decision that the ISI has to make to strategically disengage."

"The ISI has been supporting proxies for an extended period of time. It is a strategy in the country and that strategic approach has to shift in the future," he maintained.

Arguing that the Haqqani network is one such proxy of the ISI, Mullen said, "There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that Haqqani was behind the recent attack on the American embassy in Kabul. The network was behind the truck bomb attack, which injured more than 77 US soldiers and killed five Afghans. And, you know, the Taliban [ Images ] have an atrocious record for killing Afghan citizens."

When a Pakistani journalist asked Mullen if it's worth for the US to fight a war in Afghanistan and lose young American lives in what has now become allegedly a battleground between India and Pakistan, Mullen agreed that "it's a fair question and we need to listen."

"We need to understand where Pakistan's interests lie, how Pakistan sees its future, and where certainly these shared interests combine," he said, and added, "We need to help each other achieve that."

He acknowledged that "this isn't just about Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's a regional issue and that includes India and other neighbours."

But Mullen reiterated, "Certainly in India -- and I know that has been for a significant period of time -- there's an existential threat with respect to Pakistan. It remains today and I've said a couple of years ago, and I believe today, solving Kashmir unlocks the whole place, that that's the path for long-term solutions," he argued.

Mullen conceded that it's a "very difficult issue that isn't going to go away, it isn't going to get better over time". "I have had these discussions, actually with both the Pakistani leadership as well as the Indian leadership."

On the recent assassination of former Afghanistan president Burhanuddin Rabbani and its impact to any reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government since Rabbani was the key liaison in attempting to facilitate such a peace process, Mullen said, "It's really too soon to tell what the impact will be."

" Leaders need to respond deliberately here, ensure that this is not destabilising -- certainly from the standpoint of looking to the future," he said, but noted that "it does represent what is a very clear strategy on the part of the insurgents and the Taliban to try to assassinate as many leaders as possible."

But Mullen maintained, "It doesn't derail the strategy. Clearly, they are not winning in the field, if you will, and from their overall campaign, they've had a pretty difficult year. At the same time, the strategic effects here are not insignificant and we need to pay attention to it."

I cannot stress the importance of statements such as, "We need to understand where Pakistan's interests lie, how Pakistan sees its future, and where certainly these shared interests combine," he said, and added, "We need to help each other achieve that.". These go to show the mindset in America, despite the ugly war in Af-Pak, the alliances are yet to be shifted. For all the folks who now think we should drop our independent stances and be more 'pragmatic' by jumping into the American camp, you should remember, that it was not very long ago that American intelligence was actively helping the Pakistanis in trying to divide India. (Khalistani support didn't only come from the ISI, it also came from the CIA).

I cannot stress the importance of statements such as, "We need to understand where Pakistan's interests lie, how Pakistan sees its future, and where certainly these shared interests combine," he said, and added, "We need to help each other achieve that.". These go to show the mindset in America, despite the ugly war in Af-Pak, the alliances are yet to be shifted. For all the folks who now think we should drop our independent stances and be more 'pragmatic' by jumping into the American camp, you should remember, that it was not very long ago that American intelligence was actively helping the Pakistanis in trying to divide India. (Khalistani support didn't only come from the ISI, it also came from the CIA).

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Save your breath. Those people wont listen to anyone...they would whore India to the yanks if they got half a chance.

Our country's political map could have been very different if we had continued with the cold war mindset after 1991, courtesy America.

Anyway I'll just be practical. Pakistan is always going to be India's neighbor even if it loses Baluchistan. We just have to live with it. Giving up Kashmir will not solve anything no matter what US says. It is a civilizational problem and not merely territorial.

While there is no doubt that 'irritants' with neighbours does encourage belligerency and its solution can pave the way for peace and tranquillity, but then historical animosity cannot be solved instantly.

There has been improvement in the relationship between India and Pakistan from the past position, but it is still a long way to be solved.

From the US point of view, given India's rising clout militarily and economically, she wants India to focus in SE Asia to occupy the 'strategic space' that the US is unable to assert in, like in Vietnam. The US is also keen that India should occupy the 'strategic space' in SE Asia where there is a gap because of pressures of a declining US economy and US military deployment around the world (Iraq, Afghanistan and involvement in Libya).

Hence, the US wants to push for 'peace' in Kashmir so that India can turn Eastward and reduce the US strategic burden.

It is but natural that if India looks East, then it will upset China's hegemonic aspiration and will lead to a conflict creation. Such a situation will indeed affect India's image as a nation of peace, even if one is aware of China's Janus like affliction of talking through both ends of the cheek!

Notwithstanding China's chicanery of lulling nations with peaceful talk and quietly arming herself in the background, and notwithstanding India's penchant to have peace 'at all costs', it is time to call China's bluff as Philippines and Vietnam recently did by holding naval manoeuvres right in the face of the fuming Chinese Dragon.

China, for all its double talk, demanding a total control of the world is nothing surprising given her steady rise as an economy dominating and military power. It is but natural that a powerful nation should flex her muscle and it is also natural for others to protect their own turf, lest it be overtaken by a powerful neighbour!

Well until and unless the RADICALS in Pakistan come under some scrutiny or else come under some kind of compromise, PEACE is a very long process. One best but the worst option is a war between the two countries.